Here’s a New Year’s resolution, one that I hope all new homeowners will make.
Soon after the excitement of moving into your new home, take time to devise and implement a disaster plan for key possessions and records.
Take that digital camera you got for Christmas–or any camera you prefer–to photograph the structure and contents of every room, closet and shelf in the house.
Make back-up copies of important records and store the cartridge, developed film and computer disks in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box, outside your home.
Update that visual–or printed– record every few years, say every Leap Year, so new furnishings, home improvements and records will be included.
This is especially true if you work from the home office so many new houses now include.
Consider how to back up the client lists, order records, tax returns and resources such as specialized, usually expensive, books and computer programs. Do it even if you use the space only for the laptop you shuttle to and from an office.
While a disaster is a painful thing to contemplate, especially in the place you consider a sanctuary, bad things do occur. Pipes freeze and break, toilets overflow, neighborhoods flood, homes are invaded and kitchen fires cause smoke damage.
I speak from experience. I returned home from Christmas shopping in mid-December to find the charred ruins of a lifetime of accumulated furniture, records and keepsakes.
Trust me, tax records and client lists won’t be the first thing you will think of if you should ever encounter what we did. Most of the windows in our home were broken, the bricks were charred and a battle began to save what we could.
You first will think of the safety of your spouse, kids, pets and the neighbors. And when the flames are out and the firefighters have left, you will try to retrieve wedding pictures, family photos and baby books, the family Bible handed down from the mid-1800s and precious items, antique and sentimental, from the smoky, soggy interior.
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If you are lucky, as we were, relatives and neighbors will pitch in to help store valuables in the basement next door. They will help wipe down the piano in an effort to save it from the ravages of water damage. Several will offer you a place to stay while you try to regroup and get organized.
You will, of course, call your insurance agent. Not only to report the disaster but also to ask what to do next.
Contractors rush to scene
In our case, a board-up firm or two arrived on the scene within minutes of the fire trucks and offered to do the job before we even had time to call our agent.
Dazed, angry at the unseemly speed of their arrival and unsure whether the price was right, my husband declined their offers. Because construction skills run in his family, he, several relatives and neighbors familiar with carpentry boarded up the building.
When I called Tim Carter, a colleague and the New Homes “Ask the Builder” columnist, to ask what steps he as a builder would advise us to take, he said it is important to “secure the property to stop any more damage.”
Plywood up any windows, patch holes in the roof (in our case, a blue plastic tarp was hoisted to cover holes made by the fire department to vent the blaze) and install a temporary door with a lock, he said. See that all utilities are disconnected.
Expect kindness, but be wary of strangers. The outpouring of help, support and sympathy we experienced from family and friends in the neighborhood, at church and at work has been nothing short of amazing.
But I also have been stunned by the teams of strangers who appeared the day after the fire, while we were vulnerable and trying to get our bearings.
Most wanted to represent us against our insurer. One man wore what looked like a Chicago police officer’s hat so we let him in, then quickly realized that the hat was just a ruse to get a foot in the door to make a pitch.
Another wore a jacket with an official looking “fire department” insignia embroidered on the chest. I briefly thought that he, like my uncle, might be a fire inspector.
These visits all occur as you try to make sense of the mangled contents (which used to be proud possessions) steeped in an acrid smell as well as the disorientation of what used to be an organized life.
Because you are so grateful for help with the mess, be wary of signing any long-term contracts.
Work with your insurance company and–if it is deemed necessary–a fire restoration contractor to gut some or all of the building.
Restoration contractors “are really good at stripping everything and taking it down to the studs. They can also remove any structural members that are damaged,” Carter says. “They can seal the wood to seal in the smoke smell.”
But as with any new home–because this one is going to be new again–give yourself time to research restoration firms, remodelers and builders before signing any contract to rebuild.
“Start developing an excellent set of plans,” Carter advises. “Go room to room and start selecting what you want for replacement. Do not allow the builder to decide for you.
“You should say `I want these specific cabinets.’ Develop a list so detailed that you can hand it to him and say, `this is how we want it.’ List every single piece of trim, baseboard with specifications so good that you can go away for a vacation in Hawaii and come home and find what you have selected is in your house.”
The best part, Carter said, is that the fire repairs will give you an opportunity to correct “all those niggling mistakes you discovered the first time around.”
Need a floor outlet by the coffee table? This is the time to put it in.
Hated where the outlet was located in the bathroom and that old toilet paper dispenser? Rebuilding is an opportunity to get it right.
Now is the time to add a gas grill on the deck, put in wiring for the air conditioning that never worked or adding wiring for computers.
And when the day comes to move to that new improved home, use those back-up files you saved and get right back to business.
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Fire Facts:
In 2002, 1.69 million fires were reported to U.S. fire departments
Of the total, 50 percent of the fires occurred outside; 30 percent in structures; 20 percent in vehicles.
Among structures, 75 percent of the fires were in one- and two-family dwellings and apartments
Nationwide in 2002, a fire department responded to a fire call every 19 seconds
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In 2000, more than one-third of insured homeowners property damage was due to fire, lightning and debris removal
About 1 in every 100 homeowners claimed insurance property damage due to fire and lightning in 2000.
The average loss was $10,201.
Total losses for 2000: $7.68 billion.
Data from the Insurance Information Institute and from the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Mass.
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Past House Hunter columns: CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM/HOMES